I love that phrase of yours, ‘deceptive simplicity.’ You could apply that to Larkin’s poetry, certainly. The book covers themes which are quite relatable to a number of people I'd imagine - mainly failure and also stress (which seems especially prevalent in the journalism industry), plus more generally mental health and talk of how women who are childless are regarded in society, to name but a few. In that sense, it had a feel to me of being a book of its time.

Because in my experience, that’s how we learn and how we feel things, by actually being moved and feeling that you’ve been taken on a journey. I don’t mean that in the kind of Californian ‘journey’ way, but on an artistic journey. When I lost my virginity, a few months after I left the church, my main feeling was relief. For years, I had felt like a member of a quaint tribe – one of those tribes, perhaps, where you can’t really eat because you’ve got a giant ring inserted in your lip. Now I felt as if the ring had been removed and I was finally free to gorge on all I had missed. But I didn’t know how to have a relationship or even how to date. For years, I felt as if I was slithering around on a frozen pond, watching Olympic skaters whizz around, slicing secret codes in the ice. I didn’t understand how other people saw these signals I always seemed to miss. But even the authors have several times stated that she talks about misery, not depression. She understands that depression is not something that you can get rid off simply because you want to. She understands that depression is not a feeling, but an illness. I thoroughly enjoyed it – a kind of war reporter’s dispatches from the barricades of modern life.’ Robert Harris

Recommendations

The Art of Not Falling Apart is required reading for all journalists past and present, and anyone else who has – at times – struggled to hold it together.’ Dominic Ponsford, Editor in Chief, Press Gazette I think the book in a way, it’s a central message of the book, actually. I do think that the most important thing is your character, the most important thing is your heart and the most important thing is how you behave to other people. And then, that’s how I was brought up and I still absolutely believe that. CHRISTINA: No, it won’t take you deeper than the other books! But I hope it will take people on some kind of satisfying journey. MARK: And I know that kind of personal story is really at the heart of the book. But before we get on to that, because I think it’s relevant, as well as your column, you also conducted interviews with some seriously high-powered people. And how was that?

I went for a drink with my friend and former colleague, Claire. I knew that Claire, like me, had struggled with acne, but I never knew how bad those struggles had been. Claire’s acne started the summer she was fourteen. By the end of that summer, the boys in her class were calling her Pizza Face and Gangrene. People started, she said, to treat her differently. “It’s as if,” she said, “somehow by being ugly you failed on every single level”. For years, she left parties before the lights came on.

Statistics

And I think without compassion, the world is dead, really. We’re going through, in my view, really horrendous times in the West. I think Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States is the worst thing that has happened in my lifetime. And I don’t think it’s funny. I don’t find anything funny about it. I think the fact that last year after the Charlottesville marches literally equate neo-Nazis and white supremacists with people who are protesting against racism is a real nadir in my lifetime. I think there are many reasons at the moment to wake up in the morning and feel profoundly depressed about the world and I’m afraid. I think Brexit is in a not dissimilar category. I believe it’s a mistake. I don’t blame people who voted for Brexit. I think that our politicians lied to us and I think it’s a very, very serious thing to lie to people.